RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) - A Virginia sheriff's deputy won't be held liable for the injuries of a suspect who shot himself in the head in the back of a police car.
The state Supreme Court on April 3 reversed a ruling that allowed claims against Spotsylvania deputy David Setlock and Sheriff Roger Harris to move forward, finding they were owed judgment because of Dennis Howard's illegal actions.
Howard had written a suicide note in 2018 but was apprehended before he could go through with it. However, while in Setlock's car, he freed his hands and shot himself with a gun Setlock had left on the front passenger seat.
Howard's lawsuit blamed the sheriff's department for allowing him to retrieve a gun when he was suicidal.
"It is well established in Virginia that a person may not recover in tort for injuries suffered as a result of his own illegal or immoral acts," Justice Wesley Russell wrote.
That is what Setlock and Harris contended in the trial court, where a judge sided with their "defense of illegality." Howard is a felon who is not allowed to possess firearms, they said.
"(I)t cannot be disputed that Howard's violation of (that law) was a proximate cause of his claimed injuries," Russell wrote. "In fact, Howard conceded this point during oral argument in this Court."
Howard's girlfriend had taken out a protective order against him after an argument in August 2018. A friend went to his residence after Howard failed to show for work one day and found a suicide note and a missing shotgun.
Law enforcement eventually found Howard in the parking area of a vacant industrial building. Setlock handcuffed his hands behind his back and removed a knife and shotgun ammunition from his pockets.
While in Setlock's car, Howard began complaining about his breathing and moved his hands to under his knees. Setlock told him he would be pepper-sprayed if he tried to work his hands under his feet to the front of his body, increased the air conditioner and rolled down his window.
Howard did get his hands to the front of his body and reached through an open partition to take a handgun and loaded magazine Setlock had left on the front passenger seat. Setlock eventually learned where the missing shotgun was and placed it on the front passenger seat.
They drove back to Howard's residence, where Setlock left the car to talk with his superior officer. In the three minutes Howard was left unattended, he shot himself in the head, though he survived with "significant" injuries to his head and brain.
In the Court of Appeals, Howard argued there was an exception to the illegality defense for people of "unsound mind." In criminal suicide cases, those of unsound mind are found not guilty.
That court permitted that argument to move forward, but the Supreme Court said the law regulating felons and firearms, like Howard's shotgun, does not have a "sound mind" element.